So I haven't spent much time on here lately but since the Jeep is still a big part of my life I thought I'd clue this great community in to a big adventure I'm about to head off on. On April 2nd I'll be flying to Atlanta, Georgia, where I'll drive an hour north to Springer Mountain, the starting point of the Appalachian Trail.

For approximately 5 months, I'll be hiking the entire Appalachian Trail (2,200 miles) from that point to the northern terminus, Mount Katahdin, in Maine. I'll be carrying roughly 30 pounds on my back with everything I'll need to stay warm, relatively dry, fed, and sheltered from the elements. Daily distances will range from 8-12 miles in the first few weeks, to upwards of 20-25 miles by the second month. I'll be entirely self contained, likely sleeping in my tent every night, although there are over 250 lean-to shelters available on the trail. Water will be collected and purified from lakes, streams, and mountain run-offs, while food will be bought in small towns every 6 days or so. We live in a technologically advanced era, and as such I'll have my iPhone with me, as well as a secondary GPS tracking device that will alert family where I am, and allow me to contact search and rescue teams should something completely disabling happen in a remote area. I'll be blogging my entire adventure from the trail once a week or so when I'm somewhere with cell service, or at a hostel near the trail with Internet.

I'd like to invite you to follow along by visiting 2180miles.com - my website for the trip. There's a form on the right side of the blog to allow you to sign up for automatic updates via e-mail, should you be interested in doing that.

I wish you all a great year of wheeling. I'll certainly miss the spring/summer months on the trails up in New England.

I used to spend a lot of time over in the TJ section, and have spent 7 years now building up my '99 TJ. She's on 35" MTR/Ks, 3" coils, Currie arms, T&T tubes, UCF aluminum ultra-high engine & TC skids, ECGS HP30/8.8, yada yada yada. Great rig. Love her to death.

I've got 2 firends that just finished this up in September. Totally awesome experience and like has already been said, take your time and enjoy it. That seems to be their biggest regret even though they took almost 5-6 months to do it as well.